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Organizations of Harqual
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<blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 8628569" data-attributes="member: 2012"><p><h4><span style="color: rgb(251, 160, 38)"><span style="font-size: 18px">Striders of the Dawn</span></span></h4><p><strong>Source:</strong> Shackled City Adventure Path [Striders of Fharlanghn]</p><p><strong>Origin:</strong> Thunder Lands</p><p><strong>Symbol:</strong> The horizon at dawn.</p><p><strong>DM's Note:</strong> This entry contains spoilers for the Shackled City Adventure Path!</p><p><strong>Leaders:</strong> Alexandre Theobald [ISPOILER](NE male Vindi human, scout 14)[/ISPOILER]; Cezar Threlfall [ISPOILER](N male Valoran human, druid of the Daghdha 15)[/ISPOILER]; Darara Balderama [ISPOILER](CN female Ruelian human, cleric of Sanh 14)[/ISPOILER]; Meerthan Eliothlorn [ISPOILER](NG male half-elf, wizard 16)[/ISPOILER]; Shensen Tesseril [ISPOILER](LN female half-elf, monk 3/bard 3/druid of the Daghdha 10)*[/ISPOILER].</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">[ISPOILER]*<em>DM's Note</em>: Since there aren't any native drow on my world, I changed Shensen’s racial origin to half-elf.[/ISPOILER]</p><p><strong>Notable Members:</strong> Fario Ellegoth [ISPOILER](NG male half-elf, rogue 7/fighter 7)[/ISPOILER]; Fellian Shard [ISPOILER](NG male half-elf, rogue 5/cleric of Brenna 9)[/ISPOILER]; Gavin Vasswind [ISPOILER](LN male hairfoot halfling, rogue 2/wizard 7)[/ISPOILER]; Marta Stangassinger [ISPOILER](NG female hill dwarf, sentinel 10)[/ISPOILER]; Pan Mirelic [ISPOILER](NE male half-orc, bard 4/fighter 6)[/ISPOILER]; Riannon Jalovartio [ISPOILER](CN female Kieli human, barbarian 6/sorcerer 6)[/ISPOILER]; Shadlor Zimmel [ISPOILER](N male desert elf, cleric of Bast 5/ranger 5)[/ISPOILER].</p><h3><span style="font-size: 18px">Purpose</span></h3><p>The Striders of the Dawn is a loosely run organization of adventurers (and ex-adventurers) who watch the horizons for signs of great turmoil, and who strive to preserve the Tenets of the Balance throughout the Lands of Harqual.</p><h3><span style="font-size: 18px">Notable Activities</span></h3><p>The Striders of the Dawn are always looking for that next crisis. The group seeks out troubles regardless of where it is happening. As an organization dedicated to the Tenets of the Balance, its idea of “trouble” doesn't always correlate with the goals of good organizations. Evil groups almost always work against the Striders, but there have been exceptions. The harsh neutrality of the Tenets don't always endear the Striders to governments or a kingdom’s citizens.</p><p></p><p>For example, the Striders oppose slavery as general rule, which makes the group unpopular in places like the Chara Cities. However, it also opposed to the clear-cutting of forests, which makes the group unpopular in places where forestry is part of a region’s economy (Stonn, for example). Usually, if something protects the sanctity of life (including non-humanoid life) then the Striders are for it. Some monsters fall into this category but only if they have a true ecological niche. So, a dragon that lives within the Balance is to be protected but a dragon that turns “rogue” is considered a threat to the Tenets. Creatures like aberrations and the undead are considered to be destroyers of the natural world, so they are always hunted and destroyed by the Striders.</p><p></p><p>Note that while the Striders tend towards protecting those that are goodhearted, the group will fight to protect peoples and creatures that live on the fringe of human society that are part of the natural world but don’t always ally with humans (like lizardfolk). The group rarely fights for the lives of evil creatures (or individuals), but when such beings are vital to balancing out good, the group will support them. This has caused conflict between the Striders and peoples such as elves and dwarves since the group has protected evil monstrous humanoids from being wiped out by them. (It’s rare, but it does happen.) These foes (sometimes) balance out elf and dwarf activities, which tend to be more accepted in civilized society.</p><p></p><p>Note that the Striders don’t hate civilization. Civilization has its place in the world, just not at the cost of the natural world. For example, the Striders have never agreed with the location of the City of Cauldron. Building a city in the bowl of a dormant volcano is not a good idea in the group’s opinion. However, the group won't work to destroy the city as the people who live there are relatively benign. Cauldronites are strong supporters of the natural world, and they work towards protecting the land around Cauldron — now, due to recent events, even more so than before.</p><p></p><p>The Striders, more often, oppose the construction of cities and towns without consideration to the people and creatures that might be living nearby. The City-state of Cirrus is such as city. It was built quickly, using magic, and is considered by many to be an eyesore on the edge of the Great Expanse. It is also filled with many immoral people who have no regard for the natural world or even their own neighbours. There are good people in Cirrus, but they are not the norm. Thus, the Striders would like Cirrus to disappear under the sands of the desert.</p><p></p><p>The Striders can also be found anywhere that one facet of alignment (or sometimes two) has gained too much strength. If a community or kingdom has become entrenched with evil (or good) or affected by rigid laws (or uncontrolled chaos), the group acts to return the region towards the Balance. Since many of the Striders are good-aligned, they are more likely to turn a blind-eye toward governments that are extremely benign. Good is almost always better than evil in the minds of most members of the Striders. (Views on law vs. chaos tend to divide evenly among them.)</p><p></p><p>Both the old Kingdom of Thallin and the Kingdom of Navirosov are two good examples of this. Thallin was always known as place where new ideas were welcome but always had a strong controlling centre to it government. Now, it has fallen into chaos and decadent evil in just a few years. Meanwhile, Navirosov has been strongly lawful and good for so long that the island kingdom is at risk of become dull, stagnant, and annoyingly priggish. Change must become a vital part of Navirosov’s political climate in order to protect its amazing civilization.</p><p></p><p>The most important thing to remember about the Striders of the Dawn is that the group is as diverse as the many sides of the Balance. Any character who is partially neutral and believes in the Balance could find a place for her or himself in the organization. While a character with an extreme alignment (LG, LE, CG, and CE) could find her or himself as a member of this group, they would have a hard time justifying the behaviours of some of their fellow Striders. Since the organization is made up mainly of adventurers and ex-adventurers it tends to have a lot of rollover. Striders come and Striders go but the organization outlasts all those who have tried to change it.</p><h3><span style="font-size: 18px">Campaign Notes</span></h3><p>The members of the Striders of the Dawn are wanders (for the most part). They come and go as they please and one could argue that the group is highly chaotic (and unreliable). However, there are just as many lawful Striders as there are chaotic ones. The people of the Lands of Harqual simply hear more about the wild, unruly ones than they do about the law-abiding ones. The strider named Darara Balderama is a good example of the latter.</p><p></p><p>Born in the city-state of Halandra, Darara discovered at a young age that she was free spirit. The citizens of the city-state learned it too as she often ran around the streets naked. When she was still a child, her behaviour was seen as being naive and childish. However, after she blossomed into her womanhood and continued to behave the same way, it became too much for some of the more prudish citizens to bear. She soon was exiled from the city-state, which suited her just fine. She took up the faith of Sanh and let her wild spirits roar. She fell in with the Striders several years later and is considered one of the group’s greatest leaders. And yes, she still prefers to roam around naked.</p><p></p><p>Another famous strider is the half-elf wizard Meerthan Eliothlorn. He is famous for being an ally to the Order of the Silver Hand without overshadowing them. In fact, he is in semi-retirement in Cauldron City and is beginning to wonder if it might be time to pass his place of leadership to another. This other is the half-elf woman named Shensen Tesseril. She is quickly becoming a favourite ally of Lord Mayor Hezekiah Grofus and is beloved by the populace of Cauldron. She is already a leader in her own right, but her place among the upper echelon of the Striders would be assured if Meerthan endorsed her.</p><p></p><p>Every member of the Striders has a story to tell and a goal in life. Whether it be to bring down the Mad One of Thallin or to reform the political structure of Navirosov. However, the Striders of the Dawn is at its best when the group works together and forms alliance with others. The Cagewright Crisis in Cauldron was one of these events and the ongoing tabaxi attacks is becoming another. The Striders hate slavers, and the tabaxi are becoming the worst slavers on the continent. The Striders are working diligently to bring down as many of the cat-men as possible, but they'd prefer to change the tabaxi from within, if possible. Its a tough idea to put into the minds of the tabaxi, as well as those the cat-men have been enslaving.</p><p></p><p>The whole Storm Peninsula is a hotbed of turmoil to the Striders. There aren't any bans on the cutting down of the trees of the Storm Jungle, tabaxi are hunted as animals by the ignorant and ruthless, and the tabaxi don't help matters by being egotistical marauders out for blood and vengeance after being banished from the world. The Striders have learned that not all tabaxi are evil and many of them wish to live in peace with their humanoid neighbours. The Striders believe that it isn’t fair to judge an entire people on the anger and frustration of its oldest citizens. Yes, the strongest tabaxi deity is a vicious entity but not all tabaxi believe in the Doctrines of Tu.</p><p></p><p>If there is one place where the Striders believe that evil must be put down, it is on the Ragik Peninsula. The Old Sword Lands have remained oppressive since the time of the Empire of Swords. In places like Kingdom of Ahamudia (brought to Kulan during The Transformation) and the reformed Sword Protectorate there is a new hope blossoming. However, the rest of the peninsula remains a dark place full of evil of every sort. Dark, twisted creatures roam the lands and only those with power are safe (and only some of the time). Evil undead and werebeasts are commonplace throughout the region.</p><p></p><p>Only the stalwart courage of the Northlanders, dwarves of the Greystone Mountains, elves of the Great Forest, and the druid enclaves of the Hallowed Lands keeps the worst of the peninsula’s evil at bay. Many a strider, near the end of her or his life, has travelled to the Old Sword Lands to cleanse as much darkness from the region as possible before dying a bloody death.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]156873[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Knightfall, post: 8628569, member: 2012"] [HEADING=3][COLOR=rgb(251, 160, 38)][SIZE=5]Striders of the Dawn[/SIZE][/COLOR][/HEADING] [B]Source:[/B] Shackled City Adventure Path [Striders of Fharlanghn] [B]Origin:[/B] Thunder Lands [B]Symbol:[/B] The horizon at dawn. [B]DM's Note:[/B] This entry contains spoilers for the Shackled City Adventure Path! [B]Leaders:[/B] Alexandre Theobald [ISPOILER](NE male Vindi human, scout 14)[/ISPOILER]; Cezar Threlfall [ISPOILER](N male Valoran human, druid of the Daghdha 15)[/ISPOILER]; Darara Balderama [ISPOILER](CN female Ruelian human, cleric of Sanh 14)[/ISPOILER]; Meerthan Eliothlorn [ISPOILER](NG male half-elf, wizard 16)[/ISPOILER]; Shensen Tesseril [ISPOILER](LN female half-elf, monk 3/bard 3/druid of the Daghdha 10)*[/ISPOILER]. [INDENT][ISPOILER]*[I]DM's Note[/I]: Since there aren't any native drow on my world, I changed Shensen’s racial origin to half-elf.[/ISPOILER][/INDENT] [B]Notable Members:[/B] Fario Ellegoth [ISPOILER](NG male half-elf, rogue 7/fighter 7)[/ISPOILER]; Fellian Shard [ISPOILER](NG male half-elf, rogue 5/cleric of Brenna 9)[/ISPOILER]; Gavin Vasswind [ISPOILER](LN male hairfoot halfling, rogue 2/wizard 7)[/ISPOILER]; Marta Stangassinger [ISPOILER](NG female hill dwarf, sentinel 10)[/ISPOILER]; Pan Mirelic [ISPOILER](NE male half-orc, bard 4/fighter 6)[/ISPOILER]; Riannon Jalovartio [ISPOILER](CN female Kieli human, barbarian 6/sorcerer 6)[/ISPOILER]; Shadlor Zimmel [ISPOILER](N male desert elf, cleric of Bast 5/ranger 5)[/ISPOILER]. [HEADING=2][SIZE=5]Purpose[/SIZE][/HEADING] The Striders of the Dawn is a loosely run organization of adventurers (and ex-adventurers) who watch the horizons for signs of great turmoil, and who strive to preserve the Tenets of the Balance throughout the Lands of Harqual. [HEADING=2][SIZE=5]Notable Activities[/SIZE][/HEADING] The Striders of the Dawn are always looking for that next crisis. The group seeks out troubles regardless of where it is happening. As an organization dedicated to the Tenets of the Balance, its idea of “trouble” doesn't always correlate with the goals of good organizations. Evil groups almost always work against the Striders, but there have been exceptions. The harsh neutrality of the Tenets don't always endear the Striders to governments or a kingdom’s citizens. For example, the Striders oppose slavery as general rule, which makes the group unpopular in places like the Chara Cities. However, it also opposed to the clear-cutting of forests, which makes the group unpopular in places where forestry is part of a region’s economy (Stonn, for example). Usually, if something protects the sanctity of life (including non-humanoid life) then the Striders are for it. Some monsters fall into this category but only if they have a true ecological niche. So, a dragon that lives within the Balance is to be protected but a dragon that turns “rogue” is considered a threat to the Tenets. Creatures like aberrations and the undead are considered to be destroyers of the natural world, so they are always hunted and destroyed by the Striders. Note that while the Striders tend towards protecting those that are goodhearted, the group will fight to protect peoples and creatures that live on the fringe of human society that are part of the natural world but don’t always ally with humans (like lizardfolk). The group rarely fights for the lives of evil creatures (or individuals), but when such beings are vital to balancing out good, the group will support them. This has caused conflict between the Striders and peoples such as elves and dwarves since the group has protected evil monstrous humanoids from being wiped out by them. (It’s rare, but it does happen.) These foes (sometimes) balance out elf and dwarf activities, which tend to be more accepted in civilized society. Note that the Striders don’t hate civilization. Civilization has its place in the world, just not at the cost of the natural world. For example, the Striders have never agreed with the location of the City of Cauldron. Building a city in the bowl of a dormant volcano is not a good idea in the group’s opinion. However, the group won't work to destroy the city as the people who live there are relatively benign. Cauldronites are strong supporters of the natural world, and they work towards protecting the land around Cauldron — now, due to recent events, even more so than before. The Striders, more often, oppose the construction of cities and towns without consideration to the people and creatures that might be living nearby. The City-state of Cirrus is such as city. It was built quickly, using magic, and is considered by many to be an eyesore on the edge of the Great Expanse. It is also filled with many immoral people who have no regard for the natural world or even their own neighbours. There are good people in Cirrus, but they are not the norm. Thus, the Striders would like Cirrus to disappear under the sands of the desert. The Striders can also be found anywhere that one facet of alignment (or sometimes two) has gained too much strength. If a community or kingdom has become entrenched with evil (or good) or affected by rigid laws (or uncontrolled chaos), the group acts to return the region towards the Balance. Since many of the Striders are good-aligned, they are more likely to turn a blind-eye toward governments that are extremely benign. Good is almost always better than evil in the minds of most members of the Striders. (Views on law vs. chaos tend to divide evenly among them.) Both the old Kingdom of Thallin and the Kingdom of Navirosov are two good examples of this. Thallin was always known as place where new ideas were welcome but always had a strong controlling centre to it government. Now, it has fallen into chaos and decadent evil in just a few years. Meanwhile, Navirosov has been strongly lawful and good for so long that the island kingdom is at risk of become dull, stagnant, and annoyingly priggish. Change must become a vital part of Navirosov’s political climate in order to protect its amazing civilization. The most important thing to remember about the Striders of the Dawn is that the group is as diverse as the many sides of the Balance. Any character who is partially neutral and believes in the Balance could find a place for her or himself in the organization. While a character with an extreme alignment (LG, LE, CG, and CE) could find her or himself as a member of this group, they would have a hard time justifying the behaviours of some of their fellow Striders. Since the organization is made up mainly of adventurers and ex-adventurers it tends to have a lot of rollover. Striders come and Striders go but the organization outlasts all those who have tried to change it. [HEADING=2][SIZE=5]Campaign Notes[/SIZE][/HEADING] The members of the Striders of the Dawn are wanders (for the most part). They come and go as they please and one could argue that the group is highly chaotic (and unreliable). However, there are just as many lawful Striders as there are chaotic ones. The people of the Lands of Harqual simply hear more about the wild, unruly ones than they do about the law-abiding ones. The strider named Darara Balderama is a good example of the latter. Born in the city-state of Halandra, Darara discovered at a young age that she was free spirit. The citizens of the city-state learned it too as she often ran around the streets naked. When she was still a child, her behaviour was seen as being naive and childish. However, after she blossomed into her womanhood and continued to behave the same way, it became too much for some of the more prudish citizens to bear. She soon was exiled from the city-state, which suited her just fine. She took up the faith of Sanh and let her wild spirits roar. She fell in with the Striders several years later and is considered one of the group’s greatest leaders. And yes, she still prefers to roam around naked. Another famous strider is the half-elf wizard Meerthan Eliothlorn. He is famous for being an ally to the Order of the Silver Hand without overshadowing them. In fact, he is in semi-retirement in Cauldron City and is beginning to wonder if it might be time to pass his place of leadership to another. This other is the half-elf woman named Shensen Tesseril. She is quickly becoming a favourite ally of Lord Mayor Hezekiah Grofus and is beloved by the populace of Cauldron. She is already a leader in her own right, but her place among the upper echelon of the Striders would be assured if Meerthan endorsed her. Every member of the Striders has a story to tell and a goal in life. Whether it be to bring down the Mad One of Thallin or to reform the political structure of Navirosov. However, the Striders of the Dawn is at its best when the group works together and forms alliance with others. The Cagewright Crisis in Cauldron was one of these events and the ongoing tabaxi attacks is becoming another. The Striders hate slavers, and the tabaxi are becoming the worst slavers on the continent. The Striders are working diligently to bring down as many of the cat-men as possible, but they'd prefer to change the tabaxi from within, if possible. Its a tough idea to put into the minds of the tabaxi, as well as those the cat-men have been enslaving. The whole Storm Peninsula is a hotbed of turmoil to the Striders. There aren't any bans on the cutting down of the trees of the Storm Jungle, tabaxi are hunted as animals by the ignorant and ruthless, and the tabaxi don't help matters by being egotistical marauders out for blood and vengeance after being banished from the world. The Striders have learned that not all tabaxi are evil and many of them wish to live in peace with their humanoid neighbours. The Striders believe that it isn’t fair to judge an entire people on the anger and frustration of its oldest citizens. Yes, the strongest tabaxi deity is a vicious entity but not all tabaxi believe in the Doctrines of Tu. If there is one place where the Striders believe that evil must be put down, it is on the Ragik Peninsula. The Old Sword Lands have remained oppressive since the time of the Empire of Swords. In places like Kingdom of Ahamudia (brought to Kulan during The Transformation) and the reformed Sword Protectorate there is a new hope blossoming. However, the rest of the peninsula remains a dark place full of evil of every sort. Dark, twisted creatures roam the lands and only those with power are safe (and only some of the time). Evil undead and werebeasts are commonplace throughout the region. Only the stalwart courage of the Northlanders, dwarves of the Greystone Mountains, elves of the Great Forest, and the druid enclaves of the Hallowed Lands keeps the worst of the peninsula’s evil at bay. Many a strider, near the end of her or his life, has travelled to the Old Sword Lands to cleanse as much darkness from the region as possible before dying a bloody death. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Striders of the Dawn.png"]156873[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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